In April, Brannen became director of consumer health and public relations for the U.S. Apple Association, McLean, Va.

Before joining the Vidalia, Ga.-based organization, Waters was a secretary for 16 years at the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles and worked a decade as a secretary for Farm Credit Services.

“My years of working side-by-side with the former director have prepared me to take on this new role,” Waters said Oct. 22. “Working with the farmers all those years, it’s like coming back home. It has been a blessing to have been in the position I’ve been in. I’m looking forward to continue working with the growers, packers and Vidalia onion industry to make sure we have another successful season.”

Waters said she’s working on a new promotion for the 2014 season and the organization is finalizing a budget.

“We are focusing on getting back to our roots where Vidalias are from and what made us famous in the beginning,” Waters said. “We want to educate our demographics more about how Vidalias are grown only in Georgia.”

Committee chairman Kevin Hendrix, vice president of Hendrix Produce Inc., Metter, Ga., said Waters did well filling-in for Brannen as interim committee manager.

“She’s very conscientious of everything she does, and we just thought she would do a good job,” Hendrix said. “I think she’ll find her own way and kind of forge her own path, and continue the job she has been doing. The committee will run similar as in the past, but we may see a few small changes.”

Aries Haygood, the Lyons, Ga.-based operations manager for M & T Farms, said Waters has worked for growers for a number of years.

“She’s experienced at what she does and has been doing,” Haygood said. “She helped Wendy a lot in the office and making things happen and helped put things together. We as an industry felt like she was the best fit to lead the committee and guide us onto the new things we may need.”

The federal government shutdown delayed the final step in naming Waters. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service, administers the Vidalia marketing order.

“Susan has worked hard for the VOC and will continue to do so in this new role,” Brannen said. “I appreciated her help through the years and am glad to see her take on more responsibility in promoting those delicious sweet Vidalia onions.”

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Doug Ohlemeier

Doug Ohlemeier, who has written for The Packer since 2001, serves as eastern editor, a position he has held since August 2006. He started at The Packer as a staff writer after working for nearly a decade in commodity promotion at the Kansas Wheat Commission, where he was a marketing specialist.
Doug worked in radio and television news writing, producing and reporting for seven years in Texas, Missouri and Nebraska.
He graduated from Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, in 1984, with a bachelor of science degree in broadcast journalism and a minor in history. He earned a master’s in corporate communications from the University of Kansas, Lawrence, in 1991. In college, he served as a news editor of the daily O’Collegian newspaper and interned in radio and television news departments.